In a few previous years (#1, #2), I decided to do a fresh take each time on what the best Linux distribution was for gaming - so I'm back for a 2025 edition of the article that will cause you to tell me how wrong and terrible I am.
What's changed? Well, quite a lot actually. Both previous times I firmly suggested going with plain Ubuntu. However, time moves on, and the software world evolves rather quickly. So I have a new recommendation for you! Why am I even writing this? Sadly, there's still articles out there pushing for tiny completely random fringe distributions and plenty with stupidly outdated and republished information to get to the top of Google.
My current home for a while now, and what I'll recommend you pick up, is Kubuntu. It has all the goodies and support of plain Ubuntu, but with the KDE Plasma desktop environment, which is the same one used on the Steam Deck's Desktop Mode. It has an interface that will be much more familiar to people coming over from Windows, it's more customizable (if you want it) but with a sane default setup that just gets you going quickly.
The latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Kubuntu, Kubuntu 24.04.1, is supported with security and maintenance updates until April 2027. So you can install it and basically forget about it and keep it running and secure for years to come. However, you're likely better off with Kubuntu 24.10 which is more up to date, if you're okay upgrading again when the next version of Kubuntu comes out (Kubuntu 25.04) which is around April 17, 2025. Either way, both work well.
I've been through Fedora, Manjaro, Linux Mint, plain Ubuntu, Arch and many others over the years. No Linux distributions is perfect and they all come with their own set of quirks and problems, just as Windows has its own set of unique issues. To me, Kubuntu just offers the best all around middle-ground of everything you need to get going.
People will argue about Snaps, but for the majority of normal users — it just doesn't matter in the slightest. I use the Spotify, Thunderbird, Telegram and other Snaps and they work great and are kept nicely up to date without me even needing to do anything.
I will suggest though, that you enable Flatpaks from Flathub, so you get the best of all worlds and access to even more easily installable packages. It's incredibly easy to do as well.
You can download Kubuntu from their website.
If you need help and support for Linux and Steam Deck gaming, you can try asking in our Forum and Discord. Don't forget to follow me on Bluesky and Mastodon too while you're at it.
Don't agree with me? That's fine! The benefit of Linux is that there's truly no one-size-fits-all. Leave a comment to tell me how wrong I am. You're still wrong if you disagree though.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Liam DaweIt's transparent to the end user once the system is installed. You add extra apps all the same way via Discover. This "bloat" is not something normies care about, only pedantic people who like to watch a few extra MBs get used up. The reality is: only a few people really care.
Installing a KDE app using the flatpak version by mistake/confusion is not "a few extra MBs" if runtimes and other essential core packages need to be retrieved, this adds confusion to the normal user of "why is it taking so long". Add to the above the extra confusion of having to give additional permissions, handling printing and the communication of different containerized solutions with each other or with the local password manager. That's definitely not transparent.
Last edited by sudoer on 4 December 2024 at 3:53 pm UTC
CyborgZeta a day ago
Frankly, I would've continued using it had I not disagreed with Snaps. That said, I don't regret switching to Bazzite on my desktop. I was very interested in running an immutable distro, and Bazzite offers that along with Steam and other goodies baked into the OS image.
If Iwere going to recommend a Linux distro for someone who wants Linux on a gaming PC, I would go with Bazzite. It helps that it has images for desktop and handheld PCs.
Last edited by Xetal on 3 December 2024 at 2:40 pm UTC
Last edited by Leahi84 on 3 December 2024 at 3:01 pm UTC
Mountain Man a day ago
Quoting: Fester_MuddGreat article! Ubuntu is highly recommended for beginners and stability seeking folk alike. It is always just a matter of time when a rolling release distribution such as Endeavour / Manjaro / plain Arch break or an update process gets borked.Have you ever actually used a rolling release distro? Because in the several years that I've been using Manjaro, that hasn't been my experience at all. Upgrades have always been smooth with nothing randomly breaking. It just works.
User really has to pay attention to forums and such before updating their system on those type of rolling releases, and or acknowledge that there will probably be conflicting package issues and so on: delete the one for time being, pull the other package in and then return the first one. This is the reality on Arch-based distros and the "sacrifice" won't bring you any FPS really.
But it's a decent choice for everyday usage, I'm not fan of KDE but the implementation on Kubuntu is solid, Snaps works fine (I almost forgot that Firefox was as Snap, as it worked seemly), and you can install the "non-snap" Steam easily.
Quoting: MohandevirI made the same choice. Kubuntu 24.04. I was on Manjaro, but found out that "bleeding edge" KDE is a PITA. Switched back to Kubuntu and it's "outdated" libs and got a pretty great experience. The only thing I did was add kisak stable repo for my RX 6600 and I'm pretty happy with it. Everything else seems quite theoretical, to me, because it gets the job done with much less assle.
But "to each their own", they say...
I'm in the same boat. Though I prefer Gnome so I just go with Ubuntu. I do kisak for the Mesa drivers as well. Only other thing I do is add the mainline kernel. In the passed I would build and run the LinuxTKG kernel for some features that hadn't made it to the mainline yet. To my mind, it's better for a normie to go with a stable system and just pull in the bleeding edge pieces they need. I use my machine for work, so I really don't want to risk having to waste my time fixing a rolling release. To me that's the equivalent of getting a Windows forced update in the middle of working or one of those MacOS updates that take 30 minutes and your whole machine is unusable. I am looking forward to Pop_OS! though. Not sure if I'll switch all together or just pull in CosmicDE.
I probably would recommend Kubuntu as well for the Windows normie types.
Quoting: fagnerlnTo be the best distro for gaming, it should have support to the major "gaming tools" available, I installed Kubuntu 24.04 on my laptop and had issues trying to compile gamescope, I gave up.Again, normal users are not going to manually look to install and run gamescope. People that reply to these types of articles keep thinking like their power-user stuff applies to everyone. Most people wouldn't have even heard of gamescope.
But it's a decent choice for everyday usage, I'm not fan of KDE but the implementation on Kubuntu is solid, Snaps works fine (I almost forgot that Firefox was as Snap, as it worked seemly), and you can install the "non-snap" Steam easily.
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